R6100-Ethernet Connected Speeds Way Down with WiFi on...Up with WiFi Off !?

[3rdtimer]

R6100-Latest Firmware-

Greetings....! New to the forum. Long but detailed read....and thank you for your responses in advance. I have had this R6100 for almost 2 years and all of a sudden......

I started browsing last night at 10pm. My desktop machine is all Ethernet. Connection is a cable modem, not DSL. The speeds were tanked.... 1.46 down and .12 up. Supposed to be 6.0 down and .50 up. No other devices sucking down bandwidth via either WiFi or Cat5e.  I unplugged the power on the SMC cable modem and my R6100 WiFi router and shutdown the computer. Waited 5 minutes. Powered up the SMC modem waited for it to initialize completely and did the same for the router and computer in that order. Tested speed again. It's tanked. 1.36 down and .22 up.

I took the R6100 router out of the loop completely and CAT5'd direct from the SMC cable modem to my desktop computer (it's a Gigabit PCI adapter). The SMC "link" modem light goes blue indicating I went from a 10/100 LAN connection on the R6100 to a Gigabit LAN connection on the desktop machine. (It's green 10/100 when my R6100 router is in the loop) Tested speed again. It's up! 6.2 down and .54 up.
Hmmm...
Repeated all of the above, alternating the sequences 2 more times and got the same results. Put it all back to the way it has been and this time used the WiFi "off" button only on the R6100 router. Tested speed again. It's up! 6.0 down and .50 up. Turned "on" the WiFi button. Tested speed. It's tanked. Lather, rinse, repeat 2 more times. Same thing....WiFi switch off= speed is up. WiFi switch on= speed is tanked. Went to bed. It's 1:30 AM.

Next morning and all day so far you ask?  WiFi switch is on= speed is up. WTH....?!  Beats the heck out of me, judge. The main IT guru at my ISP (small town provider) says he has only seen this one time before. He had to do it all to another customers WiFi router...reset, reconfigure, everything. I don't know what brand or model. That time the customer had to replace the router.

It has done this late in the day (10PM) for 3 days now and I am out of ideas of what to look for. Most of the time it all works with the WiFi switch on. When the speeds tank I just turn off the WiFi switch and the speeds come right back.

So, what are your thoughts?

Thanks for your time and help.

[DexterJB · Accepted solution]

Hi @3rdtimer,

Their network activity using their own connection will not affect your network. However, if they were using your wireless connection as the source then that is the time where it may slow down your network.

Regards,

Dexter

Community Team

[DexterJB]

Hi @3rdtimer,

It is strange that it does it a specific time of the day. Try changing the password for your Wi-Fi. It is possible that someone may be connecting at that time and slowing down your connection. If it behaves the same way, you may try the reflash, reset and reconfigure route.

Regards,

Dexter

Community Team

[3rdtimer]

Dexter....Thanks for the comeback. I just reset the R6100 back to factory default SSID and password. We will see. I am in a single family home and there is nobody around me within range of the R6100 that has or had the password or knows how to hack into it. Stay tuned. I will let you know one way or the other.

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@DexterJB wrote:

Hi @3rdtimer,

It is strange that it does it a specific time of the day. Try changing the password for your Wi-Fi. It is possible that someone may be connecting at that time and slowing down your connection. If it behaves the same way, you may try the reflash, reset and reconfigure route.

Regards,

Dexter

Community Team

---

[DexterJB]

Hi @3rdtimer,

Please keep us posted.

Regards,

Dexter

Community Team

[3rdtimer]

I did a factory reset of my R6100, left everything at default.  I had no speed issues as described in my original post. Then I changed the factory SSID and password to a completly new one of my own......again, no speed issues as described in my original post......so far.

Help me understand something here; If somebody was hacking my WiFi or just downloading a movie next door legitimately using their WiFi, how could that effect my speeds on my Ethernet LAN connection to the web via the R6100? Is there something common in the circuitry design of the R6100 that would do that? Seems like the one WAN and four LAN RJ45 jacks would be nothing more than pass-thru circuits. I was going to power off the R6100 and see if that were true but then I realized I couldn't send this message. Should I try that and get back to you?

3rdtimer

[3rdtimer]

BTW.....I realize that bandwidth plays a major role in all of this 
but I am still interested in learning about the RJ45's pass thru thing.

Thanks for your help.

[DexterJB · Accepted solution]

Hi @3rdtimer,

Their network activity using their own connection will not affect your network. However, if they were using your wireless connection as the source then that is the time where it may slow down your network.

Regards,

Dexter

Community Team

[3rdtimer]

Ok.....I have been monitoring my speeds for a few days now since I changed my SSID and password and the problem has not recurred. However, I will continue to monitor them as I am suspicious of my Vizio TV that is connected to my R6100 via WiFi. It occured to me that shortly before this problem started, Vizio notified me on screen that an update had been installed. A few days later, my speeds started tanking every other day at about 10pm EST. So whats the connection between the two you ask? 

Read this: http://lavasoft.com/mylavasoft/company/blog/vizio-smart-tv-sells-your-data-how-to-turn-off-their-use...  I followed the directions and turned off Vizio user tracking long before the Vizio update notification that is mentioned above. The problem in my original post here in this forum started after Vizio notified me of an update. Note: I just checked to see if Vizio user tracking is still in the off position and it is, but I wonder if it has morphed into something else that is tanking my speeds via it's WiFi connection to my R6100? I will resurrect this issue at a later date but for now  will mark the problem resolved. Thank you for your feedback.

3rdtimer

[DexterJB]

Hi @3rdtimer,

Thank you for the update. Please keep us posted if anything comes up.

Regards,

Dexter

Community Team